Two of the most important factors that will determine your quality of life are:

1. Your Health
2. Your Relationships

Your health is an obvious factor. It’s very difficult to have a high quality of life if your struggling with health issues (How did the flu affect your quality of life last time you had it?). While not all of them can be avoided, studies show that around 80% of the chronic diseases we deal with in the U.S. are lifestyle related. That means we could avoid most of them by changing what we eat and getting some excercise. I’ve found the more fruits and vegetables I eat, the more I crave them. Make a habit of eating well and excercising and your body will return the favor by giving you energy and a sense of well-being. Try it. If you stick with it through the first 30 days, you’re well on your way to making it a habit.

Next are our relationships. What is the quality of your life if you surround yourself with negative people? What affect does a toxic friendship have on your peace of mind? What kind of mood were you in after you last fight with your spouse? 85% of the joy that we experience in life is based on relationships. That statistic has always interested me because most of us don’t give our relationships the care and attention they need. Our tendency is to let them operate on auto-pilot, which at some point is likely to carry them off course. Put some time, care and focus into your relationships and see what effect the extra attention has on your quality of your life. Just a few words of affection and support to your spouse and your kids can go a LONG way. Setting aside time to in your schedule to show your friends and family they are a priority also goes a long way in ensuring a strong, healthy bond with them. Healthy relationships will do wonders for your quality of life.

In what ways, today, can you begin improving how you care for your health and the most important people in your life?

“most of us don’t give our relationships the care and attention they need.” That is so true. We give other things and people higher priority in our lives then we do the people closest to us. It’s easy to notice the changes I need to make in my diet and the need for exercise. I think recognizing the changes we need to make in our relationships are more difficult and ones we can’t always see. We need people in our life that we’ll point out those areas, and we have to be willing to listen to them.